‘Do your parents know you’re here, El?’ ‘No, I told them I had exams, so they think I’m in Dublin.’ Orlaith gave a fish-mouthed Wow from the backseat, which only Declan could see in the rear-view mirror. El’s practised mendaciousness impressed him, even if it was unclear why her parents needed the management she gave […]

Dan leaned closer into the picture as a couple pushed past behind him. Laughing at the framed photographs on the wall, they made their way along the gallery’s narrow landing. In their wake, voices and the waft of cheap wine welled once more up the stairs from the ground floor. Dan stayed a moment longer, […]

I finally explain it to her as we walk by the lake. It’s a warm day. The sun glimmers off the soft waves and throws rippling stripes of colour over the boughs of the trees. Sparrows and moorhens call out over the rhythm of the rocking light. She says she’s heard of it before, but […]

Traditions are not consciously created. A tradition is born and nurtured long before anyone sees it for what it is. It lies patiently in wait – for it has time – growing stronger and more difficult to remove. It has no fear of being discovered, for discovery is the final act of consummation. Tradition is […]

Jess hadn’t expected snow. Wasn’t that the point of the south-west? Wet, yes, but no snow, not like the Highlands or the Alps or somewhere. When they’d bought their idyll, their adorable little cottage with its roses round the door and windows peeping out beneath thatched eaves, when they’d bought it they’d only thought about […]

Fiachra Kelleher is a final year undergraduate student at Trinity College, Dublin. He is from Cork. Fiachra is currently working on short stories for his undergraduate dissertation. His fiction has appeared in The Three Lamps, The Cormorant and Orca.   Q: If you could travel back in time, which of the great writers would you […]

Mark Bicton is interested in environmental change and how we respond. His stories explore dis/connects of culture, nature and our sense of place, past and future. He has been writing stories as a form of exploration for some years. He completed an MFA in Creative Writing, receiving a Distinction for a set of stories on […]

Gill Darling is the author of Erringby, to be published by Fairlight Books in June 2021. Gill grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and graduated from the University of York with a degree in Economics and Statistics. She currently lives in Manchester where she works as a chartered accountant in the social housing and charity sectors. […]

Benedict Cross grew up in Ealing and studied English with Creative Writing at the University of Nottingham. He has just graduated from a further Masters in Creative Writing, and Fairlight Books marks his debut as a published author. He has always loved the soaring horizons of science fiction and fantasy, but his degree also taught […]

Richard Smyth a writer, critic and author of The Woodcock, being published by Fairlight Books in July 2021. Richard’s work has appeared in The Guardian, The New Statesman and The Times Literary Supplement, and he is the author of five books of non-fiction. In between books he compiles crosswords and writes questions for television quizzes. He lives in […]